Labor Day gas prices lowest in 5 years

More than a million New Jersey residents will be on the roads this weekend and will have a little more cash in their pockets because gasoline will be at the lowest Labor Day price in five years, according to a forecast from AAA Mid-Atlantic.

Gasoline prices also are the lowest since late spring, according to an informal survey done by a New Jersey Herald employee who has kept gasoline purchase receipts since early April, all from the same Newton gas station and most of them from the same pump at that station.

Rounded up — why are gas prices given in thousandths of a dollar? — the pump prices surveyed began at $3.30 per gallon on April 10 and ended with a price of $3.20 on Tuesday.

In between was $3.54 on April 28, dropping to $3.42 on May 21, then rising again in time for the Memorial Day holiday to $3.46 on May 27.

The cost continued to rise, reaching the seasonal peak at $3.58 on June 27, just in time for the Fourth of July holiday.

On July 9, the price was at $3.54 and continued to drop through Tuesday.

The station, which does not offer a “cash only” discount, was almost always at or a penny different from the price at the other lowest-priced station along Route 206, which also does not offer a discount for cash payments.

The AAA survey said the 1,046,629 people hitting the highways this weekend is a 1 percent increase over last year. This year, New Jersey pump prices for regular will average $3.26 while last year, the average pump price was $3.51.

Prices this low in late August haven't been seen since 2010, and the AAA forecast said the prices, barring some major event such as a hurricane in the Gulf Coast, are likely to remain relatively low into the fall.

The average price across the country is figured to be $3.454. The national price last year was $3.59 and in 2012, the Labor Day average price was $3.83.

In 2010, the average price for a gallon of gasoline on Labor Day was $2.68.

The travel weekend, as defined by AAA, begins today and goes through Monday. With Labor Day occurring the earliest possible date, most of the holiday period is in August, which means warmer weather and more outdoor activities.

Stephen Ellis, regional superintendent for the Northern Region of the New Jersey parks division, said all campsites in the eight parks and state forests in the region are booked for the weekend. The region includes Sussex, Warren, Bergen and Passaic counties, and encompasses more than 147,646 acres with 2.5 million visitors each year.

Businessweek noted in a story last week that U.S. refineries were operating at 91.6 percent of capacity the first week of August, a slight decrease from July.

While refineries were operating at a high capacity, demand was down to the lowest seasonal level since 2012, and inventories were at the highest level since March, the Businessweek report said.